Take 2 on the photo links

Let's see if this works:

Photos from trip to Asebe Tefari and Blue Nile Falls:


or

http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/EthiopiaBlueNileFallsAndAsebeTefariSeptember2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJK7penu0erq6AE&feat=directlink

Photos from Mom's trip to Lalibela
http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/EthioLalibelaWithMom72772902?authkey=Gv1sRgCLG1z4bbh_TaJQ&feat=directlink

or

Ethio-Lalibela with Mom 7/27-7/29

Long overdue update from Ethiopia

So it’s been ages since I’ve written. I’ve been on some trips for work within Ethiopia, had my mother visit for a week, and went to Nairobi for meetings followed by almost a week with my sister and her family in Tanzania. And I’ve passed the 6 month mark. I can’t believe I’ve been here for a half of a year already! Time sure does fly.

First, for work, we’re definitely being kept busy. The situation in the country overall is precarious with successive poor or failed rains, cholera outbreaks, and lack of food and financial resources for relief operations. Despite that, I’m enjoying being here.

In one of the locations I visited there is very little food and people are eating cactus as their main food source. In another area I saw a completed water program that, with our funding and the diligent work of the NGO, provides water to four villages and one town a 11 different locations which means that people have to go much shorter distances for clean water. I’ve been able to travel with some other donor representatives and have thus have made some great new friends.

My mom came to visit for about a week in July which was lovely. But the weather and Ethiopian transportation systems conspired against us. Despite my plan to visit two locations, our flight was canceled after a terrifying landing attempt at the destination airport and then we had a scary flat tire a few days later. But we did get to visit Lalibela so Mom could see the famous rock churches. Maybe when she comes back we’ll visit other places (thought I don’t think coming back is tops on her list right now!).

Here are some photos from her visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=jane.e.strachan&target=ALBUM&id=5364527697822569809&authkey=Gv1sRgCLG1z4bbh_TaJQ&invite=CNbt2e4D&feat=email

In August we had some regional meetings so I was able to get out of Addis and the incessant rains for a few days. Let me clarify that the rainy season started in June with hail storms and the thunderstorms and rains that have followed have been significant and fairly constant. Of course, this is in Addis which is up in the hills. In many of the other areas of the country, the rains will not be long enough that planted crops reach maturation—so people will likely loose another harvest. The rainy season is starting to abate—which is good for me as I’ve been enjoying the sunshine, but not for the farmers. In Nairobi I was able to do some shopping, download updates for my computer, some shows from iTunes, etc. But as it turns out, I’m a mobile cloud gatherer. After about 5 hours of sun in Nairobi the clouds rolled in for the remainder of my stay. So after our meetings finished I headed to Tanzania to see my sister et al.

Tanzania is of course, still lovely. Just driving along next to crystal blue waters lowers your blood pressure. Again, after about 5 hours of sunshine, the clouds rolled in. And then it was partly sunny and windy for the remainder of my stay! My sister, friend Tracy and I went to a beach about 4 hours from Dar that was beautiful and relaxing. It was a great break and I got to sit in the hammock, watch the little monkeys roam by looking for fruit in the trees, and read my book. I did take a dip in the ocean (before the rain started), and then it was on to the bar! On Sunday we drove back to Dar and I spent the next few days with my nephews and brother in law while my sister went back to work. I returned to find Addis still rainy and cold. Not much changes in a week and a half I guess!!!

The remainder of August has passed in a blur and we’re now in September. I’m just back from another trip for the inauguration of the water program I saw in July. Then I traveled with some friends to Blue Nile Falls and Lake Tana for a little break.

Photos from Asebe Tefari and Blue Nile Falls
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=jane.e.strachan&target=ALBUM&id=5378984635112285425&authkey=Gv1sRgCJK7penu0erq6AE&invite=COiGwNUO&feat=email

This Friday is Ethiopian New Year (September 11) so we have the day off and I’m planning some shenanigans with friends. Then we’ve got someone coming from WDC for a few weeks and I’ll be traveling with her, and then it’s off to meetings in Nairobi Kenya and Kigali Rwanda. Yippee!! I’m planning in Rwanda to go with a friend to see the gorillas—something I’ve wanted to do for years! I’m so excited.

So besides all of the travel and who-ha with work, not much is new. I’m pretty settled in and enjoying expat life here. There will be more to come with all of these trips to new places so stay tuned!

Miss you all,
Abrazos,
Jane

This update's been a long time comin'....

Hi all,

It’s been ages since I’ve written. Mostly I’ve just been slammed and super tired. And not having an internet connection at home or a super slow one at the hotel I was staying at exacerbated that problem! I still don’t have it at home but will hopefully correct that next week. In the meantime, it’s when I’m working late or on weekends, and frankly I’ve just been exhausted. Well, let me back up a few weeks.

In early May I went to Lalibela with my friend Sophia. This was all arranged because we had a three-day weekend and a friend in from Washington wanted to go see the sites. But during that week the H1N1 situation started worsening and the friend in from the states works for that division of USAID so she had to go home. It was the fourth time she’s tried to go to Lalibela on visits to Ethiopia so I blame the entire outbreak on her.  Anyway, my original plan was to go up on Friday and back on Sunday. But since she cancelled, I decided to return with Sophia on Saturday instead.

Lalibela is famous for the 11 Ethiopian orthodox churches that have been carved into or out of rock. It’s a popular destination for religious holiday’s like Easter and you can see lots of priests, monks, other devout, praying in each of the churches. They’re all kind of dark and smelly on the inside, but it is quite a site to see. Supposedly they were all done in a few years but one man and his angels. Anyway—Sophia and I had a great time except for the flights delays both out and back. I like Ethiopian airlines but their in-country service isn’t the best.

Here’s a link to the Lalibela pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/EthioLali?authkey=Gv1sRgCIfn98uSmvOfdg&feat=directlink

After that quick break it was right back to work. Things are heating up here as the short rainy season wasn’t very good. In April it was all about predictions, in May it’s been getting an accurate picture. Ethiopia is sooo complicated. There’s highlands, midlands and lowlands. They all have different rainy seasons and seasons with different names. They grow different things. In some places they’re pastoralists and in some places their crop-growers. And then there’s the food programs in the country. There are literally something like 5 of them. I’ve had it explained to me by different people and I still don’t understand the intricacies of who’s targeted for what activities. Both of those might not be super important for me to understand if it didn’t ultimately result in malnutrition—which is one of our major sectors. Needless to say, things could be better here.

So I went on a trip a few weeks ago to see four partners we fund for nutrition activities. In some places the situation is pretty good and the trained staff are doing really well. In other areas it’s not as good. There are sensitivities around this issue so I can’t say much. But the interesting thing is that as you drive around you see different crops. The problem is they’re way to short/small. I remember being told when I was little that corn (somewhere in the US) should be knee high by the Fourth of July. So using that marker, it looks like July 4 but is actually late August. Not so good.

Anyway—our partners are doing a good job but they’ll have a lot of work ahead of them. Especially as there’s not emergency food expected in the country in June which is the start of the “hungry” season (when people generally don’t have much food because they’re waiting for the Sept/Oct harvests). Then on the 4-5 hour back to Addis we hit a dog. It was awful. Kind of slow motion. And being a dog person I was very upset. Now dogs aren’t of value here for the majority of people. Sheep, goats, donkeys, yes. Dogs, no. So we didn’t stop. I just felt awful and got upset. The two people in the car, presumably not knowing how to react to my being upset just kind of chuckled. Which set me off into “a strop” as the Brits would say. And I had to sit in the car for another 2 hours. So I jus started losing it. I called my sister Molly to see if she had time for a getaway. Turns out she does—yeah. But ticket prices are between $700-1000—boo. Ugh.

Here are some photos of my trip to SNNPR, a region south of Addis.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/TripToSNNPMay09?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbR85T2_qa_Rw&feat=directlink

So, the trip is over and I’ve got a million things to do and emails to catch up on. But my house is ready! So I’ve got to move in. Which means learning the security system, meeting the night guards provided by work, hiring day guards/gardener guys, finding a cook/cleaner, etc. And unpacking a ton of boxes. As my mother said, I have too much stuff. A friend came over and helped me unpack so now most things are out of boxes, but not away. My kitchen and living room (easy) are pretty much done. But the bedroom, etc. Not so much. So I’m living in a mess. Then at the same time they re-did our office set up. Now I’m very supportive of this because now I’ve got a proper cube instead of a space the size of a piece of toast. But it meant that I was stressed at work, everything was discombobulated, and the same at home. It’s been a bit too much. So I had a three day weekend but didn’t get everything done. Yesterday (Thursday) as a holiday here and I ended up working an 8 hour day so again nothing at home got done. Yikes.

Here are some pictures of my house before I moved my stuff in. After photos coming soon…..
http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/HouseInAA?authkey=Gv1sRgCKyn8LP595zLsgE&feat=directlink

On the plus side, work is definitely not boring and I think I’m really appreciated here which makes a difference. Slowly, slowly I’m making new friends and that’s also helping. Once I get my car in (it’s in Djibouti right now clearing through customs), that will make a big difference.

Also—for those of you who miss the sound of my voice, dripping with sarcasm, there are lots of phone cards you can buy that allow you to call my cell phone. Check out noblecom.com if you’re interested and I’ll pass you my cell digits!!

That’s about it for now. I miss you all and am giving you big hugs!!
Jane

Update from the middle of nowhere

Hi all,

Sorry for the 1) long time in between notes and 2) the brevity of this one. I'm at an internet cafe in Wolayita which is in SNNP Ethiopia to monitor some of the partners who do nutrition for us. The situation is varied--in some places good and in others not so much. I can't say much in this forum, but if you want the 411, let me know and I'll email you.

Basically we've been looking at the great work the health extension workers are doing at the community health posts in treating severe acute malnutrition. It's definitely good to see such intelligent young woman making a difference in their community. I've got a few more projects to see in the coming days and then back to Addis.

The really exciting (personal) news is that it looks like I can move into my house this weekend!! YEAH!! No more Sheraton/Sidama...but my own home!! And it sounds as though my personal effects (sent from the US by my office) will be arriving soon as well. Double yeah!! And my car may soon get here after it clears customs of the port in DJibouti! Triple yeah. I'm hoping for the May trifecta!!

Other than that, not much new. Things have been really busy. I've been working on planning for an H1N1 outbreak here---where we anticipate the situation would be much worse than in the US due to crowding, health care availability and underlying illness and malnutrition rates. So I've been working long days and collapsing into bed (with the Twilight Saga series) for the last week or two.

Anyway--things are calmer now. More soon with pictures of this trip and my new house coming soon. I hope you're all well!!!

Love,
Jane

My soon to be new house

So a few weeks ago I was able to see what will be my house....someday.....

It's not far from work (10-15 min drive), but it's not really close to the Bole area (more like 20 min-30 depending on where I want to go) where the shops and restaurants are. My main issue with the house (since I'm not even in it yet) is that it's strangely laid out and is a weird combo of pink and brown mostly (the owner REALLY likes pink) plus a little stone on the front.

You pull in the gate and go down a hill to park. At the top of the hill there is a guard house (and what look to be two small metal cages for guard dogs). There are two little patches of lawn on the right side as you roll down (big enough to stretch out on, not for table/chairs). You walk up a few steps and there's a very small little porch (enough for a hammock though). When you walk in the living room/dining room is on the right and connects to the kitchen (brown tiles on the wall--eeww). Nice high ceilings and wood floors in the LR/DR. if you exit through the other kitchen door there's a bathroom on the right. That's at the end of the hallway from the front door (meaning if you walk in the front door and keep going straight you'll end up in the bathroom). Across from the LR/DR is the master bedroom--so it faces the front/driveway and there's a big closet, bathroom with a green sink, toilet and bathtub (I mean, really? Is white so bad?) and get this--a tiny sauna. :-) So back out on the main hall way--if you're facing the bathroom to the left are two small rooms. One is "the guest room" and the other is?? office? Exercise?? I can't quite figure it out. They're not really big enough for much. Bummer.

So that's what the housing office considers the liveable space. But there's this whole other downstairs section. Since it's built into a hill, there's stuff underneath. There's another "guest room" as the owner calls it--it has a big room, small but full bathroom and bedroom. Then there's a little very weird room with a slanted wall. Then there's another room that leads into a huge space--big enough for ping pong and a pool table. Each of these rooms has a separate entrance--and none are connected by stairs to the top. So you have to walk outside to get into any of these. And each of these has been painted pepto-bismal pink. Also outside there's a little patio. And another room that will be for laundry. And the another little room for storage maybe? or for the guard to change? I don't know.

I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how I'm going to arrange things, what the logical placement is, etc. I can't quite imagine it yet. But since I don't live there yet, I've got some time.....

Anyway--that's the news on the housing front.....

Jane

Easter weekend in Addis

So it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Mostly I’m just settling in and there’s not too much to report. I haven’t been to the field for weeks—which is definitely the more exciting information to put up, and not much is new in Addis. But, nonetheless, here’s an update.

I’m not at the Shearton anymore, but am still at the guest house that’s kind of like an executive apartment. I’m not sure when my house will be ready, but I’m guessing maybe the middle of May if I’m lucky. We’ll see. So the place I’m staying “Sidama Lodge” is pretty centrally located and I can walk to shops, restaurants, etc. It’s not bad, but it does have its drawbacks. Needless to say, when I finally do get to move into my house, it will be a good thing. I’ll post my initial description of my house separately….

Yesterday was Ethiopian Easter…for the Orthodox church it’s a full week later than in the US. So we had Friday off. It was definitely nice—but since we only work a half day on Friday it wasn’t as nice as a Monday off! So on Friday I met a friend at a local café and then we walked down the main street here, Bole Road, to the fairgrounds where they were having a small fair. It was bizarre really. There were a few things like traditional Ethiopian stools that I found interesting, but then it was kind of like a random market. Some spices, things like pasta, then housewares and carpets, and kids DVDs. It was mostly a waste, though I did buy a stool—but it did help pass the time. And when you don’t have a car, walking down to the fairgrounds and walking around for a while does help pass the day.

Saturday I slept in, read my book, and enjoyed the fact that the guys downstairs had accidently changed the tv channels to three that I actually like. Normally there are three news channels (CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera English), one French channel, skysports, an Ethiopian channel and one other English channel. Through some finagling I managed to get them to change the other English channel from the “action” channel which seemed to be comprised mostly of bad/violent movies from the 80s, to the “series” channel—which actually shows some current shows like Grey’s Anatomy or American Idol. But skysports because National Geographic and the French channel because “2” which is, I later found out, mostly bad movies—though there was one good one on. So it was a nice respite.

Sunday I treated myself to a day at the Sheraton hotel pool. It’s like an oasis. It’s beautiful, quite (from the normal Addis noise) and you can almost trick yourself to thinking you’re in a nice tropical paradise. The downside is, that despite putting on sunscreen repetitively and even sitting in the shade and covering up a good bit of the time, I still managed to get sunburned. Boo.

The major news is that they got a new shipment in at the commissary and I could buy diet coke. Yeah!! I’m so happy. I didn’t even drink that much in the US, but here it’s definitely one of my main treats!!

And lastly, I heard that Kaddafi wants to start the “United States of Africa’ and name the combined currency “The Afro”. I love it. It makes me smile every time I hear it!!

Anyway—more about the minutia of my life later….Hope you’re doing well and saving up to come visit!!

Lots of Questions!!!

So I got an email today (4/9/09) from my friend Stefanie with lots of questions about daily life here. And as I was typing these up, I thought it would be smart to post them here so the rest of my "interested readers" can share in the knowledge!!

Here we go……

What types of restaurants are there? So far I know about Indian, LOTS of Italian (because the Italians have some kind of history here--not colonization but something), Korean, Thai, Chinese, some texmex, lots of coffee shops (the local version of starbucks is called Kaldi's), some other random cafes with some weird stuff. There's a good place called Limetree that has an interesting selection of sandwiches, salads, pizzas, some wraps, etc. It's good. But the Indian places are my favorite. And of course, there's Ethiopian!!

What are you eating mostly? I eat a lot of Indian, Italian and a mix when I'm in Addis. I moved into a little executive apartment type place so I can cook for myself--though getting vegetables (without a car, adventurous spirit and minimal linguistic skills) is difficult. I eat only Ethiopian when I'm in the field. Lesson learned there. Every time I got something that wasn't Ethiopian it tasted really weird. And it's usually not as described. For example, I ordered risotto at a touristy type restaurant in a fairly big city and it was a huge plate of white rice with melted cheese.

So Ethiopian for me is a lot of the same things. Mostly for breakfast I have "foul" (It’s pronounced fool) or fatira with egg. Foul is made from fava beans. Fatira is like thin thin thin tortilla strips cooked with egg and served with a bit of honey. For lunch/dinner I usually eat shiro which is made out of chickpeas mashed up to power and reconstituted with a bit of tomato, garlic, onion, berberi, (a spice that’s in EVERYTHING here) and probably some other stuff I don’t know about. You can eat that with injeera or bread. And then, there’s the "mixed" plate where you get a bunch of piles of stuff including shiro, a few types of lentils, a few types of vegetables, etc all served on injeera and with injeera which acts as your utensil. I’m coming around to injeera...it’s weird on its own but takes the flavor of whatever you’re picking up with it. And there’s A LOT of oil in everything. One of our drivers eats ground goat intestine for breakfast every day. Apparently that’s very common. EEWWW. I’m lucky because all of the Ethiopian Orthodox are fasting right now for lent. That either means that they’re not eating meat, or they’re not eating meat, fish or dairy. So the veggie option is always available. When it’s not lent, it’s a little tougher (I’m told) and they eat the "mixed" plate but which a bunch of kinds of meat in it too. Fortunately, Wednesdays and Fridays are fasting days year round so I’m covered a few days a week!

Where do locals eat? Mostly they eat at home. But if they’re going out, there are lots of cafes and restaurants serving Ethiopian food. But some of those with cash eat at the same places I do. It’s relatively inexpensive even in Addis but in the field it’s even cheaper. My foul was 8 birr (right now it’s 11 to the dollar but it was 9 when I got here) and shiro and a soda would be around 12 birr. In AA it’s a little more. Today, at the popular restaurant by my office I had a falafel burger for lunch and it was 42 birr. (The owner lived in the US for a while….falafel burgers are not common.)

What do they drink? Coffee and tea. Incessantly. But there is coke, fanta (orange), mineral water, sprite, pepsi, etc available. It’s just more expensive. The tea is really good if you get it with the spices. I think it’s cardamom boiled into the water. Mmmmm.

What are the prices like (not just for food, but in general)? So I really only know about restaurant foods for prices. Or prices for things in the field.
--My hotels in the field ranged from $4 to $30. For $30 you get a nice room with some good tv and hot water (most of the time). For $4 you get a clean and basic room. Hopefully with hot water but maybe not.
--I got some little bamboo shelves for $10—it’s kind of wobbly but good for shoes or books or something. My current apartment room doesn’t have shelves—just a hanging wardrobe—so I had to find something in a pinch!
--A one hour massage at the nice spa costs $20
--A soda is usually around 8-9 birr..sometimes more.
--A movie is $3 I think…I haven’t been but I think that’s what my friend said. And you can buy illegal copies of movies for $3 too. Not that I do, I’m just sayin’…..
--Food in the grocery store is pretty cheap. Except for cheese. That’s expensive. But my view is skewed because I also have the commissary I can use. That’s lots of "normal" food and it’s not too expensive. Sometimes it’s Costco-sized though. Like if you want ice cream you have to buy a 3-gallon container of it. That’s a real commitment. And I just learned that the refrigerated containers that the food comes in are called reefers. Hehe.

Is Diet Coke prevalent? DC is not prevalent. There seem to be imports of DC and/or Coke Zero (do we have that in the US? And if so what is it?) from either Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Sometimes you see it in a shop but it’s pretty rare. Needless to say I just ordered a ton of it for my consumables shipment!

Is there fountain soda? Sadly, no. Mainly there are bottles of soda. Sometimes you can find draft of one of the local beers, but other than that, no taps of anykind!!

What is the grocery store like? Imagine a store the size of a CVS or 7-11 and that’s probably the size. CVS for expat types and 7-11 for more local types of grocery stores. And they’ll have a lot of one thing and it will take up half of the shelf. So they’ll fill the shelves even if they only have corn flakes to put on it. I haven’t really found any familiar brands yet. Definitely not American brands. It’s too far away. I’ll see if I can take a photo or two at some point.

Are there familiar brands, and do they have Starbucks and McDonald's? There are fake versions of brands you know, but no international brands at all. It’s interesting!! There’s a Stackbucks and a McD restaurant, but don’t get your hopes up. My favorite is that there was an "Obama Change 08 restaurant" in a town I went to!!

Do people go running in the city? There are tons of people running. Including the best runners in the country. It’s very intimidating!! The problem for me is that the pollution is absolutely awful and it’s hard to get away from. There aren’t really parks that you can go to. There are gyms though so that’s the best bet for no smog. There’s a hash group too…

Pools? There are three pools. One at the Sheraton, one at the Hilton and one at a gym called Bole Rock. The bole rock gym pool is full of a lot of swimmers who don’t necessarily swim our type of lap. And there’s a question of the clorine content. As in there’s a lot but the pool is still cloudy and kind of gross. So that’s out. Then there’s the Hilton, but it’s heated by a natural spring—so for lounging, great; laps—not so much. And there’s the Sheraton. That’s the winner. I haven’t actually gone swimming yet (and I stayed there for a month!) but I’m working up to it. I just need goggles!!

Where will you get your hair cut and colored? I’m not sure. There are two options. My "sponsor"—the poor woman who was assigned to show me around and now has me at her house doing laundry every weekend—goes to a shop with a woman who used to cut hair in Georgetown. But the "spa" where you can get a massage, facial, mani/pedi, etc also has hair services. Some people like them, some don’t. For now, I’m growing it a little longer since I got it cut short before I left. As to color—no way. I’m au natural now!!

Can you buy books in English? You can, and it’s much cheaper than in Dar where my sister lives, but there’s not a huge selection. Mostly I order online. Thank goodness for the pouch!!

Are there movie theaters, and if so, do they dub the movies, or use subtitles? There’s one movie theatre here that I know about (that expats go to anyway) and I think they’re in English. The vast majority of people in Addis or in cities speak English. But I’m sure there are some in Amharic or other languages with English subtitles.

So I think that’s about it for now. If any of you have questions, let me know!!! I’m happy to answer them and it probably provides a nice change of pace from my rantings!!

More soon,
Jane